Supervisor Of Elections

Voter's Guide

The Republican race for Osceola County supervisor of elections pits Michael Brigmond, 59, of Kissimmee against the current supervisor, Connie Click, 51, also of Kissimmee.

The candidates answered questions posed by the Sentinel and posted at Orlando Sentinel.com/voterguide.

What is the greatest challenge facing your office and what would you do about it?

Mike Brigmond: The greatest challenge confronting the Osceola elections office is to ensure the mistakes of the past are not repeated. In the past six years there have been four lawsuits filed against the Osceola County Supervisor of Elections. All four cases were based upon some form of discrimination or voter disenfranchisement. Quite often, the real problem is one of perception. I would be proactive in working with the community to deal with their concerns and prevent problems before they come to fruition. Every voter's complaint must be taken seriously. The office must drop the attitude that, "It doesn't matter what the voter thinks, as long as we follow the law, we're OK." Every voter deserves to be treated with respect, and their concerns should be the concerns of the elections office as well.

Connie Click: My greatest challenge as supervisor of elections is convincing Osceola County's voters that they can trust the election process and their vote will count. To build trust in the system, the supervisor of elections must build a relationship with the voters. I build that relationship by being available and answerable to the voters. When a voter visits our office and wants to see the supervisor, he sees me. When a voter calls and asks to speak to the supervisor, she speaks to me. If you send me an e-mail, I will reply. I will win the trust of the voters, not by hiding in my office but by being the face and the voice of the supervisor of elections.

What would you do to make people feel secure that their votes were being counted properly?

Mike Brigmond: Accuracy and efficiency must be improved. How can the voters have confidence that their votes will count when the elections office makes mistakes with their ballots? With 663 absentee ballots mailed recently from the elections office with some of the candidates' names listed in the wrong order, the voter is naturally skeptical. Then when some absentee voters were mailed two ballots instead of one, voter confidence disappeared. New leadership is often required to break a chain of errors. I firmly believe in a "paper trail." Every ballot cast must be in a form that can be recounted and clearly verifiable. Working closely with the citizens to educate them on how the equipment operates is a keystone in building voter confidence. I plan to completely redesign the elections office Web site, and one of the key elements will be video tutorials to explain the voting equipment and how it functions.

Connie Click: In Osceola County, we vote on paper ballots. The ballots are read and tabulated by electronic equipment, but if our technology lets us down, we still have the ballots. We can still count them. Voters understand and are comfortable with this system. Through our voter education and awareness programs, we provide opportunities for hands-on experience on the same equipment that voters will face at the polls. By relieving their fear of the unknown, we remove one of the barriers that prevent people from voting.

What kind of voter outreach should the office be doing? How could the office be more people-friendly?

Mike Brigmond: The concept of outreach must be changed to a program that involves the public at every level. I will work with the school system to bring civics classes back. Many high school students today have a substandard understanding and appreciation for how our country operates. I would strive to make the voting process real to the students by inviting veterans, elected officials, business and community leaders to share what voting means to them and how elections can serve to strengthen our community. I would first redesign the office Web site to remove the government bureaucracy. The Web site should be interactive, informative and fun. Next, doing a good job is not good enough. The new standard is "exceptional service." People are happiest when they are treated with respect, and citizens who fulfill their civic duty by being informed and voting should always be honored and respected.

Connie Click: The supervisor of elections office has a voter education and awareness coordinator whose primary function is to take voter registration and election education to the community. She schedules presentations and voter registration drives at civic clubs, churches and homeowners associations. In the schools, we conduct elections for student council, class officers, prom queen or favorite book. Wherever there is a gathering of voters and potential voters, the coordinator arranges for us to be there. This is the kind of outreach we should be doing. There is always room for improvement, so we listen to suggestions and complaints; we try to be responsive and proactive. About half of our staff is bilingual in English and Spanish. Employees are cross-trained so that no one is ever told that the one person who can help them is on vacation. We never forget that the voters are our employers.